


A Boy Can Wear a Dress

by fandomsandanythingelse



Series: This is Home [10]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Boys in Skirts, Gen, Halloween, Homophobia, Prequel, Transphobia, as in this takes place during halloween, but only technically?, gender non-conforming Creativity | Roman Sanders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:08:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26050063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandomsandanythingelse/pseuds/fandomsandanythingelse
Summary: It's Halloween before the major events of the storyline, and Roman wants to dress up as Rapunzel. The question is, will the teachers let him?Also Logan and Virgil meet and immediately become bros for life.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Logic | Logan Sanders, Morality | Patton Sanders & Creativity | Roman Sanders, Morality | Patton Sanders & Sleep | Remy Sanders
Series: This is Home [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1884430
Comments: 4
Kudos: 102





	A Boy Can Wear a Dress

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place the October before the main events of the story
> 
> Title is from A Boy Can Wear a Dress by John Bosworth (https://poets.org/poem/boy-can-wear-dress)

Patton got out of the car and leaned against it as he waited for the bell to ring signaling the end of Roman’s school day. Luckily it was the start of a long weekend, and he wouldn’t have to worry about another PTA meeting until Tuesday at the latest.

The bell rang, and it wasn’t too much longer before students started pouring out of the building.

Roman was grinning as he ran up and hugged Patton’s legs. "Daddy daddy daddy! I wanna be Rapunzel for Halloween!"

Patton blinked a couple of times as he absorbed what Roman had just said. "Rapunzel?"

Roman nodded enthusiastically. “Anna wanted to be Princess Anna from Frozen for Halloween, and then Keisha said she was gonna be Elsa, and they said that Rapunzel is their cousin, and they wanted someone to be Rapunzel, so I said that I could, and they said it was okay!”

Patton blinked a couple more times. "Are you sure you don't want to be Flynn Rider? He marries Rapunzel."

"No, he's a criminal! I'm not a criminal."

Patton blinked a few more times. "Well, I guess that I can't argue there."

Roman grinned and jumped up and down, singing, "I'm gonna be Rapunzel, I'm gonna be Rapunzel!"

"Come on, kiddo, let's go pick Logan up,” Patton said with a small laugh as he opened the car door.

* * *

Janus made sure that Remus buckled himself in properly, then got in the driver’s seat and drove away from the school.

"Can I be Maleficent for Halloween?" Remus asked after a bit. “Dannica said she was gonna be Sleeping Beauty.”

“Do you want to do this because you’re Dannica’s friend and she asked you to?”

“No, I want to do it because Dannica acts like she’s better than everyone.”

“Alright.” Janus couldn’t help a small laugh. Remus was definitely a kid after his own heart. “Did you ask Mr. Dorman if it’s okay with him if you dress up as Maleficent?”

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"Because some people aren't okay with boys dressing up as girls."

"I don't care that Maleficent's a girl, I care that she's a badass.”

"Who taught you that one?"

"Virgil."

Janus chuckled a little. "Alright. Well, if you're going to be Maleficent, you're going to be the best damn Maleficent there ever was."

"Yay!"

* * *

"Hey Dad..." Virgil said as he walked into the kitchen, trailing off as he saw his dad wrapping a tape measure around Remus' chest.

Janus looked up. "Oh, hello Virgil."

"What are you doing?"

"Oh, I talked to Remus' teacher today, and he gave the go-ahead for Remus to be Maleficent for Halloween."

"You're going to make him a costume? Do you even know how to sew?"

"I took home-ec in high school."

"Doesn't mean you can sew."

Janus rolled his eyes. "I can totally sew."

"Okay, let me know when your brilliant costume turns out to be a massive failure," Virgil said as he started to walk out of the kitchen.

"Wait, real quick, do you want to dress up this year?"

Virgil paused. "I mean… kinda? I think it'd be cool to be a vampire."

“Great. We’ll get your measurements after I’m done getting Remus’s, and then we’ll head to a craft store to get fabric for costumes.”

Virgil rolled his eyes and walked out of the kitchen. His dad was a huge dork, but it was kind of cool that he cared enough to hand-make Halloween costumes for the two of them.

* * *

Patton walked into Remy’s classroom. Remy turned around and grinned. “Patton Sanders, my saving PTAngel, please come help me decorate for Halloween.”

Patton laughed a little and went over to the table to grab some orange and black paper decorations. “Y’know, most teachers already have their Halloween decorations up.”

“Look, I forgot that it was happening until Isabela said something about being Cinderella. I swear, all the girls are gonna be Disney princesses this year.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah it is so. So like, I had to freaking print out a bunch of decorations from online and cut out cute little shapes last minute so I could at least get this room a little ready for Halloween.”

Patton laughed again as he hung a little orange bat from the ceiling. His smile fell a little and he bit his lip. "So, speaking of Halloween… and Disney princesses…"

"What's up, hun?"

"Roman wants to go as Rapunzel, dress and all. If that's not okay, I can totally make it so he's a boy version of Rapunzel, but he really really wants to wear a dress--"

Remy laughed a little, cutting him off. "Patton, hun, if Roman wants to be a princess, I'm totally chill."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'm all for free expression. Like, if Roman wants to be a princess, and you're okay with him doing that, then Roman is a total mother-fluffin' princess."

Patton gave Remy a grateful smile. "Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me."

Remy smiled back. "Patton, I think you know that I'd do just about anything for you."

“I know, I just was worried, y’know?”

“It’s no biggie, really. You’re not the only parent to ask if their boy could dress up as a girl character this year.”

“Really?”

Remy nodded and started stapling some Halloween-themed border trim to a bulletin board. “Yeah. The other guy was Janus Mentiras. You know him?”

Patton grabbed another little decoration and sighed. “My vice president Janus Mentiras?”

“Oh yeah, him! I kinda forgot he was in PTA.”

“He hardly ever shows up, so I don’t blame you.”

“Yeah, well his kid, Remus, is gonna be Maleficent, though I’m pretty sure he’s just doing it to piss off Dannica because she stole his favorite eraser last month.”

Patton chuckled a little. “Spite is a pretty good Halloween costume.”

“Right?” Remy laughed as he finished with the border trim. “Anyway, you should probably talk to Janus and tell him to get his butt to PTA meetings more often.”

“Yeah, will do. At what point can I kick him out?”

Remy shrugged. “You’ll have to do the research on that one, hun.”

* * *

On Halloween, Virgil got out of his dad’s car and adjusted his cape around his shoulders. He was super excited to show off his costume because he and his dad had worked so hard on it. The fangs were the only thing that wasn’t perfect about it, but that was just because they’d kept falling out all morning and his dad had to pretty much glue them in for them to stick. But he was determined to scare people.

And as he walked in, he thought he saw his first targets.

“Aww, did the little baby dress up for Halloween? Gonna go trick-or-treating with Mommy and Daddy later?” Virgil rolled his eyes as he heard the school bully Chad making fun of some poor kid, probably a sixth-grader, if his height was anything to go by.

“Just leave me alone, Chad,” the kid said. Virgil could definitely appreciate his Frankenstein costume.

“Why? Are you gonna cry if I don’t, little baby?”

“Calling me names like that only makes you more childish than me.”

“Does it? Because I think you look like you’re gonna cry.” Chad pushed the kid, and Virgil managed to catch him before he fell. He stood him back up, then hissed at Chad, who whimpered a little.

Virgil gave Chad an evil sneer and said, “Pick on someone your own size, Chad. I’m gonna go trick-or-treating too, does that make me an itty bitty baby?”

Chad shook his head quickly and booked it. Virgil laughed and turned to the kid that he’d saved.

“Thank you,” he said.

“No problem. And hey, if Chad gives you any more trouble, tell him that I’ll kick his ass.”

The kid smiled a little. “And what name should I give when I tell him that?”

“Virgil.”

“I’m Logan,” Logan said, holding out his hand. Virgil shook it. “That’s a nice Dracula costume.”

“Eh, I’m just a generic vampire, not Dracula. But you’ve got a pretty neat Frankenstein costume.”

“I’m actually Frankenstein’s monster, Frankenstein was the scientist who made him.”

“Oh that’s cool.”

Logan nodded. “Yeah, it is. Have you read the book?”

“No, actually, I haven’t.”

“Can I tell you about it?” Logan asked, and Virgil definitely couldn’t say no to that goddamn puppy dog face. It was worse than Remus’s.

“Yeah, go ahead.”

Logan’s eyes lit up, and he started talking about the novel, and Virgil decided at that moment that he was going to protect this kid no matter what.

* * *

Patton pulled up to the elementary school on Halloween and looked at Roman. “Ready, kiddo?”

“Yeah!” Roman said. He was practically bouncing in his booster seat. Patton laughed a little and got out of the car, going to help Roman unbuckle his seatbelt.

“Can I go show everyone my costume? Please please please?” Roman asked.

Patton grabbed Roman’s backpack and handed it to him. “Yeah, go on ahead.”

Roman took it and ran inside. Patton smiled and followed him in, heading toward the PTA room.

“Cat onesie?” someone behind him asked, voice dripping with sarcasm. “You definitely tried today.”

Patton turned around and saw Janus dressed in mostly black with a bowler hat, yellow gloves, and what looked like snake scales on the left half of his face. “I was busy with other stuff and I didn't think about it. What are you supposed to be?”

“I was cursed to be half snake, obviously.”

“Obviously,” Patton repeated, rolling his eyes. “Was the bowler hat a part of the curse too, or just a fashion choice?”

Janus laughed way too hard and loud for it to be genuine. He pretended to wipe a tear from his eye. “Oh, Patton, that was a laugh and a half.”

“Come on, let’s just get stuff ready for the costume parade.”

* * *

Roman raised his hand, wiggling a little in his seat.

“Yes Roman?” Mr. Dorman asked.

“Can I go to the bathroom?”

“Yeah, don’t forget to grab a hall pass.”

Roman nodded and grabbed one of the plastic Starbucks cups that were Mr. Dorman’s hall passes as he hurried out of the classroom to the bathroom. He did his business, washed his hands, grabbed the hall pass, and walked back into the hall.

“Ladies are not allowed in the gentlemen's restroom,” someone said as he walked out. Roman turned around and saw Mrs. Gircphays, the mean third-grade teacher, with her hands on her hips. She looked mad. Roman looked around and realized that he was the only person in the hallway, which meant that she was mad at him.

“It’s okay, Mrs. Jerkface,” Roman said. “I’m not a lady!”

That only seemed to make her more mad. “First of all, young man, it is pronounced Gerk-phase,” she said, using a hard G, “And second of all, young men aren’t allowed to wear dresses.”

Roman tilted his head. “Why not?”

“It’s not proper.”

“Why’s it not proper?”

“Because boys wear pants and girls wear skirts.”

“But you’re wearing pants right now.”

And that made her even madder. “Alright, young man. I’m taking you to the principal’s office, and we’re going to call your mother.”

“You can’t, she died when I was a baby.”

Mrs. Gircphays took a deep breath. “Alright, we’ll call your father.”

“He’s in the PTA, so he’s going around to different classes today.”

“Then it’ll be easy to find him. Come on, now.”

“Hey! Where are you taking Roman?” Roman turned around and saw Remus standing there in his Maleficent costume, holding another of Mr. Dorman’s hall passes.

Mrs. Gircphays sighed and turned around to face Remus. “I’m taking him to the principal’s office because he’s not dressed properly for school,” she said very slowly.

“Why not? Susie in Ms. Johnson’s class is Rapunzel too.”

“Well, Susie in Ms. Johnson’s class isn’t a boy, is she?”

“You’re taking him to the principal because he’s dressed like a girl?”

“Yes I am. Now, go back to class.”

“No, because if you’re taking him to the principal, you’ve gotta take me.”

“And why is that?”

“Because I’m Maleficent. And not a boy version, the girl version.”

“Very well, then. We’ll call your mother.”

“Oh no, you can’t do that. My mom’s not around. But my dad’s in the PTA, so you could prolly call him.”

Mrs. Gircphays looked between the two and muttered something under her breath that Roman couldn’t quite hear. “Both of you, principal’s office. Now.”

Roman nodded and started walking toward the principal’s office with his head down, trying not to cry. Dad said that it was okay to be Rapunzel and that Mr. Dorman had said it was okay.

“Hey,” Remus said, bumping Roman’s shoulder with his. “I think you’re a really great Rapunzel.”

Roman smiled a little. “Thanks. You’re a great Mal-ficent.”

“Maleficent.”

“That’s what I said, Mal-ficent!”

“Quiet, both of you,” Mrs. Gircphays said.

Roman put his head down again and walked into the principal’s office. Mrs. Gircphays walked up to the desk lady and said, “I need you to call these young men’s father to the office. They said he’s in the PTA.”

The desk lady nodded. “What’s the name?”

Mrs. Gircphays looked at Roman. “What is your father’s name?”

“Patton Sanders.”

The desk lady nodded again and turned on the intercom. “Patton Sanders to the front office, paging Patton Sanders to the front office. Thank you.”

Remus looked at Mrs. Gircphays. “You’re just calling his dad and not mine?”

“What?”

Remus was about to respond when Patton walked in. He looked at Roman and Remus, then at Mrs. Gircphays. “What’s going on here?”

“Your sons are not wearing school-appropriate attire. They need to go home and change.”

Roman looked up at her and opened his mouth in shock. Go home and change?

“First of all, ma’am,” Patton said with a glance at Roman. “Only one of these boys is my son.” He turned to the desk lady. “You should probably call Janus Mentiras here too.”

The desk lady turned the intercom on and called Remus’s dad to the office while Mrs. Gircphays made confused noises.

Janus walked into the office and looked at Mrs. Gircphays. He did not look happy to see her. “What seems to be the trouble?”

“I should have known. Mr. Mentiras, pleasure to see you again.”

“Always, Mrs. Jerkface- sorry, I mean Gircphays.”

“Mr. Mentiras, your  _ son  _ is not wearing appropriate school attire. I suggest you take him home and make him change.”

Janus looked at Remus, then back at Mrs. Gircphays. “He’s completely covered. I don’t understand what the issue here is.”

“Both he and Mr. Sanders are dressed in girls’ clothes.”

“I did ask his teacher, ma’am, and he said it was alright,” Patton said.

“And besides, I made Remus’s outfit, so it’s not ‘girls’ clothes,’ it’s his clothes,” Janus said.

“Then let’s bring their teachers in.”

“It’s the same teacher,” Janus said. He turned to the desk lady and said, “Call Mr. Dorman in here.”

Mrs. Gircphays scoffed and muttered, “Of course it’s Dorman.”

Roman fiddled with the hem of his dress. He just wanted to be a princess. He didn't think he’d get in trouble for it.

It was another few minutes before Mr. Dorman walked in. “Oh, hey, that’s where these two went! I was about to go look for them myself.”

“Mr. Dorman, Mr. Sanders here says that you allowed his child to wear a dress to school,” Mrs. Gircphays said.

“Yeah, and? It’s a costume, and also 2019 Judy, get with the times.”

“It is not appropriate for boys to wear dresses.”

“Says who?” Mr. Dorman crossed his arms. “Some stuffy old hag who thinks it’s okay to keep students from their class?”

“I’d watch your tone, young man.”

At that moment, the principal walked out from the back of the office. Roman giggled a little because she wore a silly-looking witch hat with green hair that didn't cover her real hair that well, and a long black cape with her normal button-down shirt and pants. “What’s going on out here?”

“Ah, Mrs. Freeman, I was just having a talk with these boys’ parents about how what they’re wearing is not appropriate for school,” Mrs. Gircphays said.

Mrs. Freeman looked at Roman and Remus, then back at Mrs. Gircphays. “I just see two boys in Halloween costumes. And they’re very nice Halloween costumes at that.”

Roman smiled a little.

“Boys shouldn’t be allowed to wear dresses, Mrs. Freeman.”

“And why not?” Mrs. Freeman looked at Roman. “Do you like wearing that dress?”

Roman nodded eagerly. “Yessir, I do. I’m Rapunzel.”

“And you make a very pretty Rapunzel.” Mrs. Freeman looked at Remus next. “And do you like wearing that dress?”

“Yeah, it’s really cool and flowy and stuff.”

“Then I don’t see why they shouldn’t be allowed to wear dresses.”

Roman grinned as Mrs. Gircphays sputtered. “But- but sir, they’re-”

“Expressing themselves? Wearing clothes they like? They’re allowed to do that.” Mrs. Freeman looked around at the rest of the gathered company. “Now, all of you, go get ready for the costume parade.”

Roman smiled at the look on Mrs. Gircphays’ face as Mr. Dorman ushered him and Remus out of the principal’s office.


End file.
